In the Quiet Chamber, Lü Zhong slowly concluded his cultivation session.

He formed a hand seal and cast a Technique Mantra before him.

The Spirit Gathering Array, which had been humming as it continuously converted the Spiritual Qi within the Spirit Stones, ground to a halt. This array aided cultivation by accelerating his progress, but its Spirit Stone consumption was directly proportional. He didn’t dare leave it running indefinitely, or he would squander all the Spirit Stones Lintao Pavilion had earned.

His gaze fell upon the large and small jade bottles scattered across the floor, and Lü Zhong felt a sense of resignation.

Recently, he had tried consuming many Pills. All of them were produced in the Pill Squares of Changchun Immortal City and were suitable for Mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators. However, their effects were all mediocre. Even with the aid of the Spirit Gathering Array, he had failed to achieve any satisfactory results.

It wasn’t that his progress was as slow as a turtle’s crawl; after all, the Jade Vein Technique was still effective.

It was more that... he didn’t quite know how to describe it.

Some time ago, Lü Zhong had spoken with fellow cultivators from Dongbu House and learned that slow progress was a common phenomenon for Foundation Establishment cultivators. Many even had their cultivation stagnate for decades without the slightest improvement.

Barring any unexpected opportunities, they would remain at this stage for the rest of their lives.

They had all discussed this phenomenon.

The consensus was that they simply had too much True Essence to refine.

The Sea of True Essence was no joke!

The expansion from a small puddle in the Early-stage Foundation Establishment to the Sea of True Essence in the Fake Pill Realm represented a massive increase. In fact, the growth in the total amount of True Essence was comparable to the increase in Spiritual Power over the entire Qi Refining Stage. However, the quality of True Essence was far higher than that of Spiritual Power, which meant it condensed very slowly. Even by pouring in a vast amount of Spirit Pill resources, one could no longer replicate the rapid cultivation progress of the Qi Refining Stage.

Recalling this, Lü Zhong guessed that besides the reasons above, his slow progress might also be because he had practiced the Four Spirits Technique in the past. This had caused the amount of True Essence in his Dantian to be higher than his peers from the very beginning.

’Sigh, what a fortunate problem to have!’

He had never expected that having four times the True Essence of an ordinary cultivator, which made him all but invincible in combat, could also be the cause of his slow cultivation progress.

’Thank goodness for the Creation Spirit Liquid!’ Lü Zhong thought, his heart filled with anticipation.

Since Li Qionghua had been able to use this Secret Technique to achieve a Nascent Soul Formation speed that surpassed even those with a Celestial Spirit Root, then the Creation Spirit Liquid might have other wonderful properties. If he consumed large quantities of it, perhaps he too could significantly increase his cultivation speed. He wasn’t hoping to soar all the way to Nascent Soul Formation, but steady progress would be enough.

With a sweep of his sleeve, he put away the various bottles and jars.

Then, he went out into the front courtyard, where a new Alchemy Room had been built.

Under Xia He’s direction, the servant girls were preheating the Alchemy Furnace, adding firewood, and sweeping away ash. They were all so busy they were run off their feet.

When they saw Lü Zhong enter, they all stopped what they were doing and bowed according to their respective ranks.

His eyes swept over the Bronze Alchemy Furnace before he looked at Xia He and asked, "How is the preheating of the Pill Furnace coming along?"

"Replying to the Master, it has reached the temperature you instructed," Xia He said in a soft, sweet voice, leaning forward slightly. The contents of her collar nearly slipped out, as if she hoped to catch Lü Zhong’s attention.

’Who would have known? This Master of Lintao Pavilion’s wealth must be no less than that of a Late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator.’

’One could tell just from the way the main mistress ate Beauty Pills like they were candy. The sight had filled her with such envy that she couldn’t help but entertain the idea of becoming his concubine.’

’Even if that didn’t work, her fallback plan was to become an Alchemy Boy and learn a trick or two of the Alchemy Skill.’

’That way, when she left in the future, she could quickly pay off her debts.’

Lü Zhong acted as if he hadn’t seen a thing. He had no penchant for dallying with widows.

Although, Xia He’s body was indeed alluring.

Expressionless, he waved his hand and said, "That’s enough. You may leave."

"Yes, Master." Xia He was disappointed, but she nodded and withdrew.

Only after she had left did Lü Zhong extend a hand and use the Object Control Skill to pull the firewood and ash out of the furnace chamber. Then, he opened his mouth and spat out a ball of golden Spirit Flame into his hand.

It was the Spirit Forging Fire. This Spirit Fire could be used in Alchemy.

Its power wasn’t strong—weaker, even, than the Spirit Flame produced by Spirit Wood Firewood—but its advantage lay in the purity of its essence. For a novice alchemist like him, it was excellent for avoiding the interference that impure flames could cause during Alchemy.

With a flick of his finger, the Spirit Forging Fire fell into the furnace chamber.

He cast another Technique Mantra, and the furnace door slowly closed.

Lü Zhong prepared to practice the Purification of Spiritual Medicine.

It had been nearly a full year since he had become a disciple of Master Dongbu to study Alchemy, and he now had a clear understanding of the process.

The alchemy process, broadly speaking, could be divided into three main stages: Processing and Purification, Fusion and Transformation, and Spirit Infusion and Pill Splitting. Things like preheating the Pill Furnace and preparing spiritual materials were all preliminary work.

The processing of Spirit Medicine was largely a matter of memorization, which wasn’t difficult for a cultivator. One simply had to memorize the texts provided by Dongbu House and then put the knowledge into practice to master it easily.

Of the Processing and Purification stage, the difficult part was the purification.

This step was extremely important, directly affecting the final Pill Formation Rate. If the purification of the Spirit Medicine was not done well, it could even lead to the direct failure of the alchemy attempt. It was one of the fundamental skills of an Alchemist.

He telekinetically pulled over a handful of Cyan Rice Spirit Rice and tossed it into the Alchemy Furnace without a second glance.

The Bronze Alchemy Furnace before Lü Zhong was of crude construction. The place for the fire was called the furnace chamber, while the compartment for Spirit Medicines was the Pill Room. The furnace had only a single Pill Room, meaning it could refine just one type of spiritual material at a time. It lacked any auxiliary arrays to control the heat, and other features like a Spirit-Guiding Array or Spirit Gathering Array to power it were also absent.

It wasn’t that he wanted to make things difficult for himself; he wanted to build a solid foundation.

Once he became more proficient, it wouldn’t be too late to buy a better furnace. He could even hire a dedicated Alchemy Boy to handle the time-consuming processing and purification, leaving him to complete only the most critical fusion and transformation stage.

For a Foundation Establishment True Cultivator, Alchemy was considerably simpler than it was during the Qi Refining Stage, because their Divine Sense could interact with the physical world.

The purification process could be performed with fine precision, without introducing any external impurities.

Lü Zhong had once observed a Qi Refining cultivator perform Alchemy. Without the aid of Divine Sense, they could only rely on skills like the Object Control Skill. The purification of spiritual materials was time-consuming and laborious, and it also drained their Spiritual Power. This naturally increased the difficulty of Alchemy, making it far less effortless than it was for a Foundation Establishment cultivator.

After a short while, a drop of Cyan Grain Spirit Dew was purified.

Its color was slightly mottled, indicating that it still contained many impurities.

Without a second glance, he flicked it into a nearby water jar, then pulled over another handful of Cyan Rice Spirit Rice and continued the purification.

Drop by drop, the Spirit Dew was purified.

He constantly summarized his successes and failures, referencing the personal notes and demonstrations from Master Dongbu to correct his own purification techniques.

Gradually, the purity of the Spirit Dew began to rise.

Suns rose and set. In the blink of an eye, more than half a month had passed.

Lü Zhong had used up a thousand pounds of Cyan Rice Spirit Rice, finally purifying a large vat of Cyan Grain Spirit Dew.

He tasted a mouthful. The Spirit Dew was rich in Spiritual Qi, and the flavor was surprisingly good. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

’If I added some other ingredients, perhaps I could make this into a tea...’